Georgia Destouni on pollution in the Baltic

Professor Georgia Destouni, Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently reported that Stockholm University researchers have discovered that large pollutant loads from land to the sea are missed by existing monitoring efforts.

In a study published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Professor Georgia Destouni, along with colleagues at the Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, revealed that waterborne loads of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic pollutants from land to sea may be larger from small, unmonitored areas than from the main rivers which are subject to systematic environmental monitoring. 

Destouni and her fellow researchers discovered that Sweden in particular has larger monitoring blind spots than other countries with drainage into the Baltic Sea, leading to significantly greater underestimation of the nutrient and pollutant loading into the Baltic originating from Sweden compared to the other Baltic states.

The nutrient loads from land directly impact upon the quality of water in the Baltic, providing optimum conditions in which algae thrive. Bacteria also use up the oxygen required by marine animals on the sea floor. 

Professor Destouni is delighted that the BBC picked up on the work of the Hydrology and Water Resources Research Group at Stockholm University. 

"It's great that they wanted to know more about what's happening in the Baltic," says Destouni. "But it is important to make clear that by looking at what is happening locally, we hope to understand more about the global water system."

In an age when much of the discussion is focusing on climate change, Professor Destouni believes it is important to better understand the global water changes.

“There are questions about water quantity and quality that still need to be answered. Pollution is not just the result of what ‘bad’ industrialists do. It’s more nuanced than that. There are a combination of factors, including the way that the water system itself can propagate, or filter out and dampen pollution and other global change effects,” says Destouni.

Although the research picked up by the BBC focused on Sweden and the Baltic, Destouni and her colleagues at Stockholm University working on hydrology and water resources do not just focus on the Nordic and Baltic region; they have a strong international slant to their research also examining hydrological changes in the Aral Sea, the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. 

Professor Destouni emphasizes that “Stockholm University is committed to increasing our understanding of the water system and improving its management worldwide for the future of our planet.”

Text and interview Jon Buscall